1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a file system, and more particularly to a file system applied to a data processing system for copying, facsimile network communication, printing or other data processing, that is capable of avoiding filing of identical document data so as to make good use of the storage capacity of a memory device of the filing system.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, printed documents which are important or documents which may be used in future are filed and placed in order on a shelf or the like. In an office having an enormous amount of documents, however, a large space is required for keeping the documents. Additionally, it takes much time to find a required document.
Accordingly, in recent years, with the advancement of high-speed data processing technologies and with the lowering of storage device prices, there has been proposed a file system for reading documents with a scanner and storing the documents in a mass storage device. These file systems are introduced into not only offices having an enormous amount of documents but also into other places.
With these types of file systems, there have been proposed file systems incorporating features designed to provide easy retrievals of related documents by sorting documents systematically by types in a database and more recently various file systems in which availability has been improved. For example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 5-35737 there is described a file system in which reduced images of stored document data are created and displayed in a calendar view format, and in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 6-119393 there is described a file system in which data is sorted, registered (stored), and retrieved in a box, calendar, or card format. Furthermore, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications No. 8-255220 and No. 9-128402 there are described file systems in which the continuity or similarity of document data is analyzed.
These conventional file systems, however, require reading documents with a scanner and inputting information for retrieval, which is time-consuming. Therefore, documents left for processing tend to pile up. To store these documents in order in the file system, it must be first determined whether or not the documents need to be stored, and then required documents must be read with the scanner individually and an input work is necessary for sorting. Because of this complicated work for filing, users tend to reduce the amount of documents for filing by discarding documents which are not important.
This may cause a problem that some of the discarded documents are not available when they are needed afterward.
Accordingly, when checking whether not each document should be stored, the determination is not always easy, and the determination work takes a long time. Furthermore, documents not required at that time may be needed later.
Generally, documents stored in a file system are those copied for a use in a conference, those sent or received to or from a customer via a facsimile device, or those created by a workstation (WS) or a personal computer (PC) and printed out. In other words, documents to be stored in the file system have been converted to electrical signals and recorded on a recording sheet one or more times. Additionally, documents used for a conference or those to be circulated may be copied repeatedly at different times and places.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-discussed and other problems, and preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a file system, in which wasteful usage of storage capacity of a memory device is avoided by preventing storing of identical data in the memory device and in which processed data stored in the memory device can be readily reused when required.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a file system includes a processing device that processes first data (i.e., processing data) with at least one of a copying function to read image data of an original document and record the read image data on a sheet, a transmitting function to send and receive image data and/or character data via a communication line, and a recording function to record received image data and/or character data on a sheet. The file system also includes a memory device to store the processing data processed by the processing device. The file system further includes an identity determination device to determine an identity (i.e., the similarity) between the processing data and second data stored in the memory device, and a storage management device that stores the processing data into the memory device on the basis of a result of a determination made by the identity determination device. The storage management device cancels storing the processing data into the memory device when the identity determination device determines that the processing data is identical to data stored in the memory device. The storage management device adds link information for relating the processing data, determined to be identical to data in the memory device by the identity determination device, with the data in the memory device.
According to the invention, the identity determination device may determine the identity between the processing data and the data stored in the memory device based upon information of processes with which the processing data has been processed with the processing device.
The information of processes may include information of an original document associated with the processing data.
The information of an original document may include information of a size and a direction of the original document, information as to whether the original document has an image on one side or both sides of the original document, or information as to whether the original document is a sheet or book.
The identity determination device may determine a degree of the identity (i.e., the degree of similarity) between the processing data and the data stored in the memory device.
The identity determination device may determine the degree of the identity between the processing data and the data stored in the memory device based upon a degree of an identity of an image of an original document associated with the processing data and/or a degree of an identity of the original document.
The storage management device adds link information for relating the processing data with the data stored in the memory device based upon the degree of the identity determined by the identity determination device.
The file system may further include a display device to display information, an operation device to input instructions, and an output management device to create specific information for specifying data in the memory device to display the specific information on the display device so as to be selected by the operation device and to read out data which has been specified via the selection of the specific information specifying the data from the memory device to output the specified data to the processing device. The output management device displays the specific information of the processing data to which the link information is added on the display device with the degree of the identity being highlighted.
The storage management device may display in the operation device a message for asking a person who processes the processing data about storing of the processing data to the memory device.
The storage management may further include an ID obtaining device to obtain a user ID of a user who processes the processing data with the processing device and add the user ID obtained by the ID obtaining device to the processing data to be stored in the memory device. The identity is determined by the identity determination device between the processing data and the data stored in the memory device having the same user ID.
In the file system, the processing device and the memory device may be networked via an intranet, for example.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the file system may include a first memory device and a second memory device to store the processing data processed by the processing device. The storage management device may read out a given amount of document data from the first memory device and transfer the given amount of document data to the second memory device when a preset capacity of the first memory device is exceeded.
According to the present invention, data processed by the processing device is stored in the memory device on the basis of a determination result as to whether or not the data processed by the processing device has an identity with data which has already been stored in the memory device. If the processing data is determined to be identical to data in the memory device, storing of the processing data to the memory device is canceled or aborted. Otherwise, the processing data is stored in the memory device. Therefore, the processing data is not only processed by the processing device but also stored in the memory device if the data is not identical to the stored data, without any works for storing the data in the memory device, and further, the storage capacity of the memory device is saved by avoiding storage of the processing data in the memory device when the identical data exists in the memory device.
Further, if the processing data has some identity with data in the memory device, the processing data processed by the processing device is stored in the memory device with link information for relating the processing data with the already stored data associated with the processing data. Specific information of the data in the memory device, for example, a thumbnail image of the data, is displayed in a calendar display format with a degree of the identity highlighted. Therefore, processing data having a higher degree of the identity can be easily discriminated from other data so as to be selected and is output to a connected processing device for processing the data there.
Furthermore, the storage management device asks a person who processes the processing data with a processing device about storing of the processing data into the memory device. Storing of the processing data having an identity with the already stored data is canceled only according to an instruction of the person who processes the processing data, i.e., only when the person processing the data with the processing device specifies that the storage to the memory means is unnecessary. Therefore, an automatic storage of the processing data is never canceled, nor is the processing data associated with another data against an operator""s will.